Polyether mimics of naturally occurring cytotoxic annonaceous acetogenins

On the basis of the ionophore model, polyether analogues 4 and 6 were desig ned and synthesized to mimic the naturally occurring annonaceous acetogenin s corossolin (2) and bullatin (5), which were discovered as members of a la rge family of novel polyketides with cytotoxicity, antitumoral, and other b iological activities since 1982. The preliminary screening shows that they have compatible cytotoxicity with the corresponding natural annonaceous ace togenins. These results open a potential way to find more active antitumor agents with simplified structures based on natural annonaceous acetogenins.